Columbia Middle

Located at 739 Morse Ave., in Sunnyvale, California, Columbia Middle is an average-sized middle-grades school that works with 697 students (grades 6 through 8), overseen by Sunnyvale.

Sunnyvale runs 10 schools in total, collectively educating 5,753 students. Columbia Middle is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Columbia Middle lists that 54% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school shows 18% Asian, 15% White, 7% multiracial, 3% Native American. By comparison, Santa Clara County as a whole is about 25% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Columbia Middle logs 41 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.9:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 20.7:1, putting Columbia Middle tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 30% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Columbia Middle is in the bottom 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 61.5%; Columbia Middle posts 32.4%, -29.1 points below that line.

In the surrounding community, Santa Clara County reports that median household earnings sit near $164,281, 57% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Columbia Middle is one of 412 public schools in Santa Clara County (combined enrollment of about 230,059 students).

Bishop Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Columbia Middle. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Columbia Middle at 7th of 8; the average score across the group is 43.1%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Columbia Middle has edged down 10%, going from 773 students in 2018 to 697 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share decreased from 23% to 18%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 22.1:1 in 2018 to 16.9:1 in 2025.

On this page, members of the Columbia Middle community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.